This was the second time I have seen this film. It is one of the classics of film noir. I liked the story a lot. A heist gone bad. A double cross against the burglars which ends in violence and arrest. The character who plays the crooked lawyer, I thought, was well made. He reminded of General DeGaulle for some reason. Very debonair, handsome, well dressed, yet he was broke and hatched the scheme to rob the jewel thieves of the jewels. The story builds nicely until the final climax when the mastermind is arrested, the lawyer shoots himself, and the guy from Kentucky running after his horses. All the narrative ends are tied up nicely. The film also featured a young Marilyn Monroe.
The film was dark. Many figures moved in the shadow. A gambling den served as the place where they all met. The cops were on the take. It seemed everybody was flawed. The lawyer, the cop, the criminals. Except the police commissioner. He was incorruptable.
The film wasn't too long. Nor was it too complicated. It was simply a presentation of the underworld. I liked the character from Kentucky. He was wholesome. He was another emigrant trying to make ends meet who dreamed of going back to an idealized place. Yet, he was dragged down by his vices. He gambled away all his money on horses and was stuck in the mire of the underworld. It's too bad he dies at the end when he is getting just what he wanted.
I've succumbed to that myself. I have lived away from the home I grew up in and sometimes I idealized the house or the life we had. Yet, it seems that times were easier then. Life was better. I liked that them of an idealized past. Which at the time of the film's release was probably a popular theme. The Great Depression was in full affect and themes of escape probably played well.
Nostalgia for a place or time is difficult to deal with. How can we deal with the past while living in the present? Are we blind to a past we don't want to see or acknowledge? Will hard times last forever? Can we ever return to the good life?
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